Tag: the media

It’s that time, 10 years. Can you believe how much the world has changed? And can you believe that 10 years has passed? I am looking for people who enlisted in the military as a result of what happened on that fateful day. I am looking for recruiters to tell me their experiences over the decade? Past military, present; it’s all good. The point is I need you!

Many ways to reach me. Email is akravetz@pjstar.com. Phone is 686-3283. Twitter is @andykravetz. All are valid. All work.

so…

If you joined up as a result of Sept. 11, call me.

If you joined up after Sept. 11, call me.

If you were in the service during Sept. 11, call me.

If you were a recruiter on Sept. 11 or thereabouts, call and talk to me about the mood of the recruits.

Tim Hetherington, 40, a renowned photographer and filmmaker who recounted the plight of American soldiers in Afghanistan, died from wounds suffered in the attack, according to his family and a Washington Post reporter at the scene. Chris Hondros, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated photographer for Getty Images, also suffered grave injuries; his depictions of war’s toll have appeared in many magazines and newspapers, including the front page of Wednesday’s Washington Post.

Tragic news. I know, you are saying, This is just a big deal because he’s a journalist and so are you. What about the civilians and the GIs who have been dying all these years? Well, those are tragic as well. All death in war is tragic. What makes this even more tragic is that Hetherington had a gift of being able to convey the emotion and the horror of war in such a way that it could be consumed by the average person. I blogged a lot about Restrepo. That was a movie that came out last year, and detailed the life of a American Army platoon in Afghanistan. The movie was named after a medic who died. The movie was powerful and was as close to going to war in Afghanistan as most of us will ever get or ever want to get. It was scary, boring, silly and horrifying all at the same time and — it wasn’t judgmental. There was no politics. There was no heavy hand. It was just these guys and their story. Amazing work.

And this death also puts into focus a bit for those of us back here what is happening over there in Libya. This is a war. People are dying and the government is waging an all out war against the rebels to maintain power. I can’t imagine we aren’t going to wind up with troops in there. Already, the Brits and the French, I think, have sent in “advisers.” Why they are so eager to get involved when they didn’t seem to care too much about Afghanistan or Iraq is beyond me. Yes, Britain was in Iraq and had the second largest contingent but it was always a large majority US-led effort.

saw a few things that didn’t really merit conversation but yet, I wanted to put them out there for you. Figure it’s military related and if you can get a chuckle or whatever, then go for it, right…. Here ya go.

Apparently, it’s bad to smoke pot over in the AO. Just ask a Stars and Stripes reporter who was nabbed with the wacky tobacky. Hey, I feel for the guy. I get that being over in theater can be stressful but he started at the paper in January which means he probably didn’t get to the ‘Stan until at least mid-February. That’s a week or two. come on, buddy.

Christian Science Monitor has a tremendous piece on the future of warfare, cyber-style. It’s interesting, well-done and given what happened in Iran with the Stuxnet virus, likely to occur well more in the future. Remember, we stood up a Cyber Command a few years ago for people to be warriors in the Astral plane. (going on D&D on ya. )

First up is the long article from the Atlantic called the “Last Patrol.” Its about a platoon in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne and their last patrol (hence the title.) the guys had been in the ‘Stan for 11 months, lost half their original force due to WIA or KIA, and were in the process of handing off to a new outfit from the 101st. Graphic in its descriptions and language, it’s a vivid reminder of the horrors of war. And I am amazed the reporter was given such access and got in so good with the troops. I don’t know how long he was there but man, he’s in on every aspect. Amazing. He got into the harrowing and scary war and the hardships of the heat within the Afghan summers.

Compared with bullets and bombs, heat usually causes only minor injuries, but this was severe. The two soldiers were unconscious—one had stopped breathing—and if their temperatures rose much more, their brains would bake. The 101st medic who had helped treat Moon started IV fluids, and others in the patrol gave up their water to douse and cool the casualties. They would soon be dehydrated too. Soldiers ate handfuls of grapes, heavy with juice. Lachance brought back the helicopters for protection. Gerhart radioed up a third heat casualty. The soldier lay on the ground and moaned, his muscles racked by heat cramps. Gerhart fumed. “Hey, bro,” he said, “I’ve got friends who have been hit by IEDs and didn’t bitch this much.

There were better lines, I confess but they were filled with words we can’t used here such as #&@#&@ or !@#$… you get the point. But it’s gripping. The videos that accompany the story which is probably 3000 words, are well done. I recommend this for a good read.

The other story was from the Washington Post and written by David Brown, a former medic turned reporter. Why you would do that is beyond me but hey, whatever. Anyway, it’s a good piece on combat medicine. I blogged about a story he did a few weeks ago and raved about it. This is just as good. Check out these paragraphs and tell me he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Medics are now taught not to worry if a person’s blood pressure is as low as 85/40 (normal is 120/80) as long as the patient is alert. People in shock – severe low blood pressure, which causes mental confusion or unconsciousness – get up to a liter of intravenous fluids. Others get a catheter that is capped and can be used later if needed to push fluids into a vein. Gone is the routine hanging of a bottle of fluid, part of the classic visual tableau of battlefield care.

The preference for keeping the blood pressure low in trauma victims – both because they can tolerate it and because raising it can dislodge clots and make matters worse – was well understood in World War I and World War II, according to Holcomb. But by the time of Vietnam, “it seems as if that concept was lost,” he said.

I saw a story in a Portland, Maine newspaper which I thought was kind of troubling but in view of the nature of this blog, I opted to write about here and hoped to get some comments. A bit of a back story. The newspaper did a story on the end of Ramadan which is a Muslim holiday and this year, ended around the time of Sept. 11. The paper did a story on the end of the holiday which includes a fast and apparently involved several hundred people (the paper said 3,000). People were upset and said the paper was insensitive given what happened nine years ago. so the paper said, sorry. Here’s a link to their apology. And here is, in part, a response the editor sent to a reader and one that he put into the paper.

“We are sorry you are offended by today’s front page photo and story and certainly understand your point of view. Many feel the same way. We do not offer the stock excuses you cite. We should have balanced this story with one that showed our sensitivity to today’s historic importance. You will see tomorrow that our planned coverage of today’s 9/11 events is extensive, far more so than the coverage of this event on Friday.

We apologize for what may appear to be our insensitivity to the historic significance of this day. Tomorrow’s newspaper will feature extensive coverage of the commemoration of today’s events.

“Our editors believed that 3,000 persons marking the passage of a religious observance and congregating in Portland to do so was news.I believe that decision was correct but I also believe we should have handled it in a more sensitive way.”

Time Magazine, on its blog, jumped on board and essentially ridiculed the apology, noting the paper was basically apologizing for treating Muslims like human beings.

Here’s where we are in America, 2010: There is now one group of Americans whose peaceful religious observance cannot be noted by decent people, unless it is “balanced” by the mention of a vile crime committed in 2001 by people, with a perverted idea of the same religion, from the other side of the world.

So who is right here. Was the paper insensitive given Sept. 11 or was Time right and people just need to lighten up. It’s made a bit more complicated in that Maine is far closer to New York City than Peoria. It’s likely that several people in the Portland community knew people at the WTC or in NYC. So there is that factor. Yet, I have to wonder where we are a country when we have protests over the building of a mosque near Ground Zero or when we attack people en masse like apparently readers at the Portland newspaper did.

I wasn’t alive when Pearl Harbor was bombed. I don’t know what the reaction was 10 years later to the Japanese nor do I know of any major Japanese event that could or would fall near Dec. 7. We didn’t have the Web back then or blogs so that any idiot (myself included) could chime in on the events of the day.

On the surface, this just seems wrong. Newspapers all over the country as well as radio and TV stations do feature stories on such events. The PJS just did something on the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. Was that offensive given that it came out on Sept. 9, just two days before the anniversary. And we have reached a point where that day is holy and any mention of anything else is sacrilegious.

For the record, I think the apology was wrong, I think the story was fine and I think that people need to be more tolerant and accepting of people. It is scaring and sad, to me at least, that we have all but lost the ability to accept a diverse culture. I don’t know whether to blame talk radio or cable news for inciting people beyond all measure or whether this is the product of years and years of pent-up rage and anger towards others.

But that’s why I put a call out for comments. Post away. Maybe we’ll start a new trend of people commenting on Web sites without being mean and nasty. Or not. Who knows.